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	"Dancing Clown" (1887) Georges-Pierre SEURAT (1859-91) Date 1887 Materials/ Techniques Conte Crayons Size 24 x 31 cm

Seurat is a French painter, born in Paris, 1859, and passed away in the same city, 1891. He entered the National School of Fine Art in Paris when he was 19 years old, and studied at the class of Henri Lehmann (1814-1882), a disciple of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867). He was not satisfied with the drawings in academic style, and tried to express the effects of fluid light as much as possible. He started to read the scientific theories of color and light by Michel-Eugene Chevreul (1786-1889) and Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894), studied the color principles on contrast and the relations of complementary colors, he also investigated further about the light and color on the pieces of Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863).
Seurat applied those knowledges on his paintings, and started to sketch in black and white. Around that time, he made many sketches of his family, which can be the grounds of oil painting. This [Dancing Clown]would be one of those sketches. The movements of clowns seem to be emerging from the contrast of light and darkness by the layouts of light and darkness all over the canvas as well as the softly interlaced lines.
While the [ Bathers at Asnieres (Une baignade a Asnieres) ] was not accepted at the Salon in 1884, the piece caught the eyes of Paul Signac (1863-1935). The masterpiece of Seurat is the [ A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of la Grande Jatte (un dimanche apres-midi a l'Ile de la grande Jatte)]of 1886, in which he established the painting method known as divisionism. He is a founder of the Neo-Impressionism.